Obsession of the War Orphan
by Lucky-Angel135
Summary: After being abducted by enemy ninja, Sasori learned that the shinobi world was a monster that would devour him if he wasn't strong enough. Rescued by an overly confident genin from Iwagakure named Deidara, and faced with a severe disconnect from all others, Sasori begins to shape himself into Deidara's perfect protector: another monster. Canon!AU
1. Prologue

**Hello, it's been awhile for old readers. For new, welcome. I couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I thought I'd play with it, see where it goes. **

**This story is basically Canon!AU. Everything in canon happens, just on a different timeline so Sasori and Deidara are both the same age. Deidara basically becomes Sasori's knight in shining armor for one moment, and it greatly impacts how Sasori sees the world from childhood to adulthood. **

**I also need a beta. Please let me know if you're interested. I will also update Seven Little Killers when I can for those of you waiting on an update for that. **

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Misashi Kishimoto, I just play with characters.**

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Prologue

Sasori stopped speaking as soon as he turned six.

If Chiyo was honest with herself, it was a relief.

Three months, five days, and eighteen hours ago, Chiyo learned that her only son was dead along with her daughter-in-law. Sasori now stood among the countless ranks of war orphans. The only difference between him and them was that Sasori was unaware of his status. Chiyo hadn't had the heart or strength to tell him.

The war was still raging on after all, and she was head of the puppet brigade of Sunagakure. It was an enormous responsibility to burden, and as much as she wanted to be there for Sasori, he had to be second. This was yet another thing she failed to tell him due to lack of heart. For weeks Chiyo subtly dodged every attempt her grandson made to be close to her. She loved him, she bought him candy when he asked, and she often went on walks with him when the sun was setting and the desert heat was no longer lethal.

All of that was merely a dance between her and her increasingly lonely grandson. Sasori would take a few steps towards her and she would recoil so fast it was like his very existence burned her. One in the many botched efforts on Sasori's part to reach out to her stood out in Chiyo's old mind as the beginning of Sasori's descent into becoming mute.

Chiyo had been poring over battle reports from the other council members detailing how that damned slug girl Tsunade countered every single one of her poisons. It was frustrating and terrifying on a tactical level, for Konoha's casualties were decreasing, while Suna's continued to increase. Yet, no matter how many mixtures she came up with, Tsunade always had an antidote. Every time.

"Grandma Chiyo?" Sasori's voice sounded from behind her, and her head jerked up. The circular window that allowed the desert sun to shine through now showed the great hidden village of the sand in all of its glory. Last she looked up, it had still been dark, and now she could see the civilians of Suna making their rounds on the grounds below. The hot winds blew sand against the glass of the window and the sound made her already shot nerves fray further.

"Yes, Sasori?" She turned around, forcing her lips into a smile. She loved him, she truly did. Concern was evident on his round face. He was too young to understand what was happening in the world, but he was still perceptive enough to know when something wasn't right.

"Can we go to the post today?" He rubbed one of his eyes, clearly having just woken up. At least it was still morning.

"Not today. I have too much work to do," she said gently. "We'll go tomorrow." Sasori's eyes widened and he took a step into the room, something he rarely did unless summoned.

"But what if my parents wrote?" he asked. Chiyo's hand tightened on the reports she held. Sasori's eyes shifted to the subtle movement and she cursed in her mind when his brows slanted upwards, changing his expression from concern to anxiety. He was a smart boy. Too smart. Those gentle brown eyes he inherited from his mother met hers, and it felt like looking at a judge and jury. She was a damned liar. "We haven't heard from them in forever. What if we miss something?"

"Then it'll be there tomorrow, but I have to finish reading these reports and then schedule an appointment with the Kazekage." At least that was the truth. Not all of it, but it was better than nothing. She rubbed her tired eyes. "Just go outside and wait for Komushi." Komushi, bless his heart, was the only child persistent enough to be Sasori's friend, and a great distraction. Although from what she'd seen Komushi did most of the talking.

"But I really want to go today. You promised we could go yesterday."

"Then go yourself," Chiyo said.

"I tried, but they said I needed you there because all the mail is marked to your address, which is only under your name," he said. "In their records I still live with my mom and dad." His tone wasn't know-it-all, but it was pushy. Although there wasn't a thing in the world she wouldn't do for him, Chiyo found herself becoming annoyed. "Besides, I want you to come with me. We haven't played or gone for a walk in days."

"Sasori," she groaned tiredly.

"Come out today so we can spend some time together. Please? Aren't you worried too? I really want to go today just to make sure."

"I already told you not today, and that's final."

"But maybe if you wrote me a note—"

Chiyo slammed her hand against her desk. She was bone tired, sore from hunching her old back all night, and at the moment her mind was still on Tsunade. Sasori's request to go to the post was obsolete compared to the war effort that rested entirely on her shoulders. "Remember your place, Sasori." Her voice was low and there was no trace of patience left. "I said no."

She expected him to back out of the room to go sulk, and perhaps shed some tears for extra guilt until he got over it. He was only five years old, and had just started his time at the Academy. It wouldn't have been a surprise. Children like him were resilient and got over things easily. However, that was not what happened.

What she saw was a complete and total shut down. Any trace of vulnerability in his expression vanished. His brows smoothed into a neutral arch above his now hooded eyes. It would be the first time Chiyo would no longer be able to read her grandson. With all the silent calmness of a jounin, Sasori turned and left the room.

Even after this point, Chiyo could not bring herself to be truthful in the months that followed.

It was a cruel thing to do to a child. Yet, the ugly, unwanted voice that had developed after years of enduring war refuted this and insisted that Sasori was the one being cruel to her. It did not matter if it was unintentional. He was like his father: too mild-mannered and soft spoken for her liking. Chiyo herself had always been loud, eccentric, and she made her presence known every time she entered a room. As a woman and head of the puppet brigade, she had to be to get respect.

Sasori's father had been the opposite. He had been too sensitive for a world so cruel, and she suspected that was what got him killed. Raising Sasori was like enduring it all over again. Every time Sasori spoke, ate, slept, or watched other families with a longing no little boy should have, it was a reminder that her only son was dead, and she had the audacity to lie to his child about it.

"Did you hear from my parents today?" Sasori's soft voice brought her attention to him. They were in his room and those once sweet brown eyes were now watching her in a way that made her feel unsettled. Although he had stopped speaking, this question came up at night like some cruel ritual. She ushered him to bed, and avoided eye contact. Sasori's eyes used to be so expressive, but now it was like looking into the glass eyes of one of her puppets.

"Not today, but I told you this extended mission would last awhile." The lie came out so easily it was almost like telling the truth. She would tell him the actual story when she was ready. Now she couldn't. Her own heart ached with grief, and she hated herself for the selfishness she never thought herself capable of. Outwardly she offered him a smile he didn't return. "They'll be back before you know it, and your dad will probably have a present for you." She reached out and patted the top of her grandson's head. The strands of vivid red hair were a stark contrast to her pale, withered fingers. She swallowed a lump rising in her throat at all the times she had criticized her son for what she had viewed as spoiling. "He always does. Then you can show him the progress you've made as a puppeteer. He'll be so proud."

Sasori didn't say anything and laid down. His blank brown eyes fixated on the picture he always kept on his nightstand or in his tiny hands. It was a family photograph taken about a year prior. Her son and his wife smiled at the camera. Sasori stood between them as their pride and joy. Chiyo felt something in her chest twist so violently, she feared that she would have a heart attack right there, but realized with a shaky sigh that it was just her own self-loathing and grief.

"Try and get some sleep." She stood from where she sat on the edge of the bed and headed towards the door. Distance always made her feel marginally better. "You have school tomorrow, and Komushi will be here early. Goodnight." Her subtle attempts to keep Sasori at a distance had finally done the trick because he wasn't even looking at her. The photograph was all he clung to now with a resigned and muted desperation. Not even the puppets she had introduced him to stopped it. Chiyo realized in that moment that he was probably the loneliest little boy in the world.

Everything in her screamed at her to close the distance between them. She wanted to bring him into an embrace, tell him the truth, and admit she had been selfish in keeping him waiting for a family that was never coming home. The agony she was putting him through was sickening, and this sweet child she claimed to love deserved better.

Instead Chiyo left Sasori and returned to her own room. After all, she was still an active kunoichi despite her age. Her village and Kazekage needed her, and the sooner Sasori mastered the art of puppetry, the better. The boy was already showing promising signs of being a genius. Chiyo looked out the window to where the full moon hung low over the Kazekage's tower.

Sasori was an orphan, but he was too young to understand why.

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**Chiyo was always interesting for me. I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are appreciated, and again, a beta would be most helpful. **


	2. Chapter One

Welcome to the actual first chapter of this story.

**Warning:** This will not be a fluffy story. All characters are going to be as IC as possible. So, take that as you will. Sasori's upcoming fixation with Deidara is not going to be romantic or cute, even if it might seem so sometimes.

Thank you so much to **Bai-Marionette** for the review! Reviews are very much appreciated and make me write faster :D

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing

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Chapter One

Sasori didn't like waiting, and depending on the day, Komushi could either be late or on time.

He hated the lack of consistency.

Today was one of the late days, and Sasori passed the time by glaring at the buildings and shops across the street as if they had done him a personal injustice. It was still early in the morning, and people were out trying to get errands done before the sun rose too high and the heat became unbearable.

Last night had not been forth coming in the status of his parents. His grandmother had long since refined the art of brushing him off, and there was nothing else to say to her besides the question he asked every night. A year had passed since his parents left, and he still had no answers regarding their return. Until he had those answers, there wasn't anything to say to anyone.

"Hey, sorry I'm late!" Komushi panted as he ran up. He stumbled a bit as he came to a stop. Not very graceful for someone with ninja ambitions. "My mom kept nagging me. She's so annoying." Komushi let out a huff and started walking again towards the winding path that would take them to the Academy. Sasori followed him a little ways behind as always. Chiyo liked her privacy, and so lived on the east wall of the village to escape the more trafficked districts. Consequently, it took longer to get to school, and with Sasori's ingrained habit to never be late, Komushi forced himself to rise early. As a result he was both more irritable and irritating in the morning.

"You should be nicer to her," Sasori said. Komushi raised one thick brow as he looked back over his shoulder, clearly surprised that Sasori actually spoke, even if it was to reprimand him.

"I am nice to her!" he whined. It grated Sasori's ears. Chiyo insisted that they were friends, but Sasori felt it was too strong a word. At first he had appreciated Komushi's company, but it became something worn down to the point where its comfortable familiarity fell apart. If only there was a way to fix that, to make something last forever, like some kind of art. "I know you miss your mom, but Lady Chiyo says they'll be back soon. Besides, you have no idea how much _my_ mom nags. She treats me like a baby!"

Sasori's eyes narrowed a fraction. Something dark and burning twisted in his chest painfully. The intensity of the unpleasant feeling surprised him. He hadn't felt this way before, and it lingered. The Suna Ninja Academy often discussed the benefits of harnessing one's hate, and he supposed 'hate' was an apt term for this new feeling. What was more startling was that it was directed at his grandmother.

_She's lying to him too. _

Sasori abruptly stopped walking, now truly shocked that such a thought crossed his mind. Dread overcame him and he took a shallow breath to calm himself. Saying Chiyo was lying to him would be to admit that his parents weren't coming home. He wasn't ready for that. Sasori stared down at the sand beneath his sandals. No, his grandmother wasn't cruel.

"Ah, Sasori, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." Komushi's apology brought him out of his thoughts, although the hate still churned. "War is tough, you know?" Komushi gave him a sheepish grin, slowing down so he was walking by Sasori's side. "But hey, your parents are doing a great thing defending the village from the Hidden Leaf. Plus I heard sensei mention that the Tsuchikage and Kazekage are talking about being allies."

Sasori scoffed. Fat chance. He was aware that the Tsuchikage was paying a visit. The Iwagakure ninjas were all around. They kept to their own, not that the Suna villagers minded. There was tension apparent on both sides. It contributed to Chiyo's lingering foul mood. She didn't trust foreigners, especially not foreigners from a village that had long been their enemy. In the very war they were currently fighting, no less.

Chiyo liked to think that he wasn't capable of understanding what was going on, but he wasn't heralded as a genius for nothing. Their sensei raved that his chakra control was exceptional, and if he kept up at his pace he could be a genin by the time he turned seven. It was almost unheard of, and everyone expected great things from him.

Komushi continued to chat as they walked. Sasori didn't contribute, not that he ever did. He supposed there had been a time that he had actually cared about Komushi, but everything felt so distant lately. It was a numbing effect that made him all the more efficient at his grandmother's art of battle puppets. Sasori still tried to listen, but stopped when Komushi started whining about his mother again.

It made Sasori angry, but he kept silent. As ungrateful as Komushi was, it wasn't any of his business if his only friend took his parents for granted.

Komushi suddenly came to a halt and whatever he was saying trailed off into silence, as if he had lost his train of thought. Brows furrowing, Sasori took a few hesitant steps towards his friend before picking up the pace to close the distance between them.

"Why did you stop?" Sasori's impatience made the question sound harsher than intended. "We're going to keep sensei waiting." Komushi didn't respond. Sasori narrowed his eyes as he stared at Komushi's oddly blank face. It was unsettling to say the least. Komushi was always moving. Those thick black brows of his constantly rose and fell along with his flapping mouth.

Now his blue eyes were almost like marbles with how much life they held. Sasori's irritation promptly faded when he realized what was happening. The sudden glazed look and lack of responsiveness said it all. This was a genjutsu. His suspicions were proven correct when Komushi promptly walked off their usual path and towards the open desert that spanned in the distance.

"Komushi!" Sasori called. Komushi kept walking. Sasori took a step after him, but hesitated. If this was a genjutsu then that meant someone was casting it. Had they been infiltrated? Sasori looked around. The path they took to the academy from Chiyo's home snaked through two cliff faces that surrounded the village. The path eventually lead to a playground consisting of a single swing set. It was deserted this time of day due to most children being in the Academy. The school itself was on the outskirts of the village, allowing ample practice room, while at the same time being under the watchful shadow of the Kazekage tower and sentinels.

Until they got there they were vulnerable. Guarded though Suna was, it wasn't unheard of for enemy ninja to sneak in to apprehend a target.

Sure enough, Sasori didn't have to follow Komushi far. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasori saw something small and black land in the sand: a kunai with an exploding tag attached to the hilt. "Komushi!" he shouted, running after his friend. He wasn't fast enough. The tag exploded and Sasori came to a halt.

He wasn't close enough to the blast to be hurt, but it still made his ears ring. He squinted his eyes against the sand now floating through the air. Then he saw Komushi's body go flying before it landed with a sickening thump a few meters away. Sasori's eyes widened with horror as he hurried to the other boy's side.

Once he got there he pressed his small hands over his mouth and swallowed back the bile. Komushi's right arm was completely burnt. The skin was blackened and smoking, creating a horrid smell that made Sasori want to vomit even more. He held it down. Instead, he knelt down by Komushi's side, reaching out and touching his neck to see if he had a pulse. There was one, and after a moment, Komushi's eyes cracked open a fraction. Sasori was almost relieved.

As distant as he felt from Komushi, Sasori found he couldn't bear the thought of Komushi's mother losing him. He knew what it was like to an extent. His eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth against a growl.

The chakra of several ninja suddenly became palpable, and he knew by instinct that they weren't friendly. Sasori looked down at Komushi's half lidded eyes and knew there wasn't much he could do. As much of a prodigy as he was, he was still an unarmed child who hadn't even graduated out of the academy yet. So he thought quickly and leaned down closer to Komushi's face. "Stay alive," Sasori whispered to the other boy. "They're going to take me. Probably to get to Grandma Chiyo." He sucked in a sharp breath as he heard several pairs of feet land in the sand around him. A field of chakra dispelled as the ninja dropped their camouflage."You need to stay alive and tell the sand shinobi who will come for you."

Komushi didn't respond and simply closed his eyes. Sasori feared he had either passed out or died until the boy gave one almost imperceptible nod. Then he was still. Sasori's narrowed eyes closed briefly. He had to be smart about this. Although he could probably take out at least one if he really tried, resistance would most likely get him killed in the long run. Opening his eyes again, he made them wide as he turned to face the attackers.

"Y-You killed my friend," he whimpered while sizing up his captors. There were four of them consisting of three men and a kunoichi with braided pigtails. Sasori caught sight of their headbands and saw the symbol of Konoha etched into the metal. Not good. "You're from the Hidden Leaf." _Take note, Komushi, _he thought bitterly.

"Come with us," the kunoichi said. "We know who you are and who your grandmother is."

Sasori blinked innocently. So he was right. This was all about Chiyo. From Sasori's reading into the history of the war, his grandmother had been the bane of Konoha's existence for years.

"Don't run," the biggest man said. Sasori obeyed. He couldn't outrun them even if he tried. Instead he stayed still as the man came forward with a rope. He tied it around Sasori's wrists and painfully forced the backs of the boy's hands together, making it impossible to perform any jutsu.

The man wasn't gentle and Sasori faked a few whimpers just to appease the other's apparent sadistic streak. All he really wanted to do was to give a good head-butt and break the man's nose. The opportunity was there, but afterwards, death. Not a good call.

"Hey, no need to break his arms, Satoshi," one of the other men said. He looked young, with sandy brown hair and narrow eyes.

"It needs to be tight," Satoshi said, giving the ropes one last unnecessary tug. Sasori couldn't help but flinch. "The mission briefing said this was Chiyo's grandson. If we're not careful he's probably capable of turning us into puppets."

"He's six years old," the young man said. "His chakra system probably hasn't even fully developed."

"I've seen enough child prodigies to know what they can do." Satoshi stood and yanked roughly on the end of the rope, forcing Sasori to stumble to his feet. "You've all heard of Itachi Uchiha, haven't you?"

"What about his friend?" The kunoichi gestured to Komushi.

"Leave him. It'll be our first message to Chiyo and the Kazekage," Satoshi said.

"You killed him," Sasori said again softly, making sure his voice wavered. "Where are you taking me?"

He didn't receive an answer. Cargo was what he was to them, nothing more. They took off, and Sasori struggled to keep up. Every time he fell behind, the ropes around his wrists dug into the skin.

When they finally came to a stop, they were still in the desert, but Suna was no longer visible. They settled down behind a cluster of tall bluffs and promptly made a fire. With the sun down, the desert was now frigid and Sasori hoped his captors were cold. They weren't dressed properly as far as he could tell. All that fishnet was ridiculous.

"Hey," the younger shinobi from before sat down next to him. He was a chuunin from what Sasori could tell. Satoshi seemed to be their leader and most likely the genjutsu castor that led Komushi astray. "You alright, kid?"

Sasori didn't respond and kept his eyes on the flames. Komushi needed to come through for him.

"Don't talk to the hostage, Kaito," the kunoichi said as she made her way over. "If his granny decides not to cooperate we'll end up having to sell him to some perverts in Kirigakure's underground. I hear they have a thing for redheads." She reached down and gripped his chin to inspect his face. "Too bad he's male. Pretty eyes though."

"Probably could get more ryō out of that deal than the pay for this mission," Satoshi grumbled as he stoked the fire.

"We're not doing that!" Kaito said. "He's just a child! Besides, the Hokage will have your heads!"

"He's also going to grow up to be one of Suna's ultimate weapons." The kunoichi forcefully turned his head to the side. "I can sense his chakra. He's just like that old crone." Sasori felt the burning hatred rise at the comparison of himself to Chiyo. Before he could stop himself, he jerked his head back and bit down hard on her fingers. The warm, coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. The kunoichi gave a shocked yelp and tried to wrench her hand away, but Sasori clenched his jaw tighter.

"Shit!" he heard someone yell. Then something hard slammed against the side of his head and the next thing he knew was blackness.

xxx

When he woke up, his head throbbed and his vision was blurry. He apparently wasn't out for long since they hadn't moved and it was still dark. Parts of his hair felt oddly dry and stuck to his cheek. It took him another minute to realize that he'd been hit hard enough to bleed. The light from the fire hurt his suddenly sensitive eyes and he gingerly turned his head away, his cheek scraping uncomfortably against the grains of sand.

It annoyed him how violent and stupid his reaction had been. That was the only reason he regretted it. Now he was hurt and possibly had a concussion. He shifted his feet and took a few shallow breaths. A constant, persistent ringing in his ears made him squeeze his eyes shut so hard white spots appeared in the blackness behind his eyelids.

"Ha, the kid got you pretty good. Almost surprised he didn't take the whole finger off." That was a new voice. It took Sasori a moment of hazy thinking to remember that there were three men. This one had a much softer voice, although that didn't diffuse the smugness in it.

"I told you he was like his granny," the kunoichi growled. "From what I hear, Sakumo Hatake didn't have too much trouble putting his daddy in the ground."

Sasori's eyes shot open. The pain in his head became dwarfed to a much deeper and more intense one that settled in the center of his chest.

_No, _he begged within his mind. _Grandma Chiyo wouldn't lie. _

Not even in his own private mind could he convince himself. Sasori heard that name before. Sakumo Hatake was also known as Konoha's White Fang. Chiyo often spoke of him like he was some sort of demon. It was another piece of the puzzle coming into place. These shinobi spoke the truth, and Sasori stared at them in horror. The thought of moving or even breathing was enough to make him feel like he'd shatter if he tried either. So he laid there frozen, his heart pounding in his ears.

"Our little scorpion here is all Chiyo has left for family besides her equally decrepit brother," Satoshi said. "I was there. The mother put up a better fight, but not by much. White Fang tore through both of them." He let out a low sort of chuckle that made Sasori feel as if a thousand tiny needles were pushing their way out of his skin. "I have to say, all that puppetry genius must have skipped a generation."

Sasori's breath hitched softly in his chest. His eyes burned as the words sank in. It was a lie to say that he hadn't suspected that this was the case. Stupidity wasn't something synonymous with his character, but to find out this way was a cruelty Sasori couldn't forgive. Not only were his parents dead for who knew how long, but Chiyo had actively lied to his face.

He remembered asking her to go to the post and how angry she had been when he had insisted. Chiyo's aggressive refusal then had strengthened his suspicion, but he hadn't wanted to believe it. All this time he had wanted to believe that the one person he relied on would never hurt him. His grandmother at one time had been his entire world, to the point where he was almost excited for his parents to go on missions to spend more time with her.

She lied to him, and he had forced himself to believe her because the lie was easier to swallow than the truth. Maybe he was stupid after all. Chiyo often said a dumb shinobi brought cruelty onto himself.

Sasori suddenly felt like whatever gods ruled this horrible world were laughing at him. In his six year old mind he was a punchline to a very sadistic cosmic joke. The pain in his chest was unbearable and he curled into himself, his breathing hitching painfully as he tried not to cry. This was Hell. People were monsters. Even his own grandmother.

"Whatever, I have to pee," the kunoichi said. She flickered away from the fire as if her image had just been a mere projection. Sasori continued to stare ahead, letting the reality continue to stab into him. Anger, fear, cruelty, these things made the world, and it was then Sasori felt himself give in.

There was no point in living in a place like this, where even people who vowed to protect you lovingly stabbed you in the back. His mother, the most beautiful and strong mother in the world, was gone. His father too. No one was going to come for him. Sasori closed his eyes, ready to accept whatever fate would befall him.

A loud boom forced him to open his eyes again as pain rocketed through is ears. He flinched away as sand rained down on him from the explosion. It invaded his nose and mouth and he spat a bit, bringing his bound hands up to wipe the grains away. Sasori was able to sense the chakra in the explosion and it was unlike anything he had experienced before. It was completely different from the exploding tags many shinobi made use of.

This was raw power fused to whatever the bomb had been made of. Yet, the Academy of Sunagakure never taught such a technique. No, Sasori had done enough reading on other villages to know it wasn't a learned technique. It was a bloodline limit unique to only one village.

The fire had dimmed considerably due to the rain of sand. Now it was just embers. Yet, it was enough for Sasori to see another person drop down from the top of the bluffs his captors had taken refuge behind.

What he saw surprised him. His apparent rescuer was a kid no older than he was. A girl? Sasori squinted, his vision still a bit blurry. This was no kunoichi, but a very fierce looking boy. The kid had long blond hair, tied at the end, while a large chunk hung over his left eye. The firelight glistened off of the metal plate of his headband and Sasori let out a soft gasp once he saw the symbol of two boulders.

His rescuer was an Iwagakure ninja, but why and how? The thought of Chiyo swallowing her pride to ask their enemy for help was laughable. Besides, where was the rest of this kid's team?

The whirling sand from the explosion settled, revealing only one figure left standing on the other side of the fire. It was Satoshi. The other two men were just charred husks, although Satoshi hadn't fared much better. It seemed as if he had just barely avoided the blast, his left arm hanging limp and burned, and the side of his face ripped away to reveal the gruesome bone and muscle.

"Explosion release," Satoshi managed to slur. "More damn child weapons." His remaining eye narrowed, and he threw several shuriken. The blond boy said nothing, and only smirked. It was self-assured and smug even as the shuriken sank into his body with dull thuds.

Yet Sasori's attention was brought back to Satoshi when the man let out a scream and fell forward. Two kunai were shoved into his lower back at very precise fatal points.

The blond boy now stood over Satoshi's body unharmed, and let out a small 'hmm' as if he weren't entirely satisfied. Sasori looked to the other side of the makeshift campsite and saw the other boy begin to lose his color and dissolve into white clay, the shuriken falling to the sand. A clone. It was so simple yet brilliant. The boy had set off an explosion and used it and a clay clone as a distraction for a sneak attack.

"Now you know the true power of my art, hmm," the boy said, brushing his hands on his green robe. The smirk was still there as he made his way across the campsite. The way he walked was the most self-assured, arrogant display of movement Sasori had ever witnessed. He was used to people sulking and hunching their shoulders as if they had secrets to hide. This boy held his chin up as if he were royalty. If he did have any secrets, he obviously wasn't scared of anyone finding them out.

Sasori stared at the headband on the other boy's forehead, transfixed by the Iwagakure symbol. The boy crouched down before him and drew another kunai. A spark of panic burst in Sasori's chest at the thought of this boy not being here to rescue him at all, and he reeled back to aim a kick at the other child. "Woah!" The Iwa genin dodged the attack and held up both hands. "Hey, hey, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." His smug smirk turned into an easy smile. "Sasori, yeah?"

Sasori opened his mouth to say something, but his tongue felt too dry. The boy tilted his head, causing the chunk of blond hair to shift away from his blue eyes. They were pretty and strangely feminine.

"Gee, you don't talk much do you, hmm?" the boy said. "My name is Deidara. I'm the greatest artist in the world, and I'm here to rescue you." He took the kunai and cut the ropes binding Sasori's hands together.

Sasori blinked and gingerly sat up, thankful when Deidara reached out and steadied his shoulders. He squinted at the other boy, trying to wrap his head around why an Iwagakure ninja came all this way to save him. Alone too.

"They found your friend," Deidara said. "He told us what happened, but no one was agreeing on anything, so I decided to go myself, hmm."

Komushi had come through for him after all. Sasori was relieved, but only for a moment. He remembered immediately that the kunoichi was still alive. "There's one more!" Sasori managed to shout just before the woman appeared behind Deidara. She flickered into view much as she had when she went out of sight.

The firelight glinted off of what looked like a wire in her hands. Before Deidara could even turn around, it was around his neck. He let out a gag and immediately reached up to where the wire was now digging into his skin.

"You little shit." The kunoichi tightened her hold on the wire. "You damn Iwa scum and your explosions. I usually hate killing kids, but I'll take great pleasure in it now." Her eyes then met Sasori's. "You watch. See what the Hidden Leaf will do to all those who threaten our interests." Deidara let out a strangled cry, his eyes wide and tearing up as the wire cut in deeper. She was trying to take his head off.

Sasori stared into Deidara's eyes and saw the fear they held. Fear and absolute rage. The kunai was still in his hand and he raised it up quickly to snap the wire. There was a _thunk_ of it splitting and then Deidara fell forward, gasping and coughing. The enemy ninja stumbled back a few feet at her sudden loss of grip, and she let out a soft, bemused laugh. "Clever."

Sasori didn't know what to do. His brain felt as if it had been scrambled within his skull, and the rapid heartbeat pounding in his ears did nothing to help him focus. Usually he could think on his feet at a rate that had his teachers in awe, but at the moment, he was just a scared six-year-old child. If he possessed the capacity to be humiliated in himself he would have been, but at the moment, all he could focus on was the senseless and brutal reality of the situation. He was no more than a bargaining chip, and he was looking up at a monster. Monsters weren't entities. They weren't creatures that prowled the open desert or hid under his bed. They were fellow human beings.

"F-Fight." Deidara's voice pulled him out of the morbid train of thought, and Sasori managed to tear his gaze away from the leaf ninja. The other boy's bright blue eyes met his, and Sasori felt a distinct pull. Despite being nearly strangled to death, the light in the Iwa genin's eyes was bright and all-consuming. Deidara was not ready to give up - not like Sasori had wanted to. Deidara coughed again, rubbing at his throat. The action smeared blood across his skin. "Sasori, you...have to fight." He turned on his knees and tossed the kunai he was holding, only to have the kunoichi deflect it with one of her own.

"Did you really think that would work?" she said. "It's always a mistake to make genin out of toddlers."

"I'm the best there is, lady," Deidara said as he stood up on shaky legs. "I'll kill you before you doubt that, hmm." Sasori bit his lower lip, hoping the pain would spur him into action. His body didn't move. He could barely breathe. This must have been the kind of fear his parents felt before they were killed.

Deidara braced his feet apart and took out another kunai. The other boy's breaths came too sharply and every second or so he let out a rough cough. Blood leaked from where the kunoichi's wire had cut into his neck.

The kunoichi came at him and everything seemed to slow down. Deidara had told him to fight. Sasori didn't know if he could. He didn't even know Deidara, and yet this boy had come to his rescue when no one else had. Deidara had no obligation to him, and apparently he hadn't been sent.

Deidara came on his own will. Maybe it was just for the chance to prove himself, but it was more than what anyone else had done. For pride's sake, Sasori knew the village elders would have let him die. This life was cursed with a blight of war. With war came senseless deaths. Yet as Sasori watched Deidara prepare to die for him, something in his mind came together.

Moments like these between two perfect strangers made living in this world bearable. Despite the value of cruelty, kindness still existed, and the realization overtook everything inside of Sasori's heart. He was no longer scared or frozen. He'd been hit, lied to, threatened, and touched as if he were an animal about to be sold. He let it happen. Now he no longer wanted to be the victim. Deidara's words rang in his head_._

_ Sasori, you…have to fight._

His body was now completely under his control. Sasori shot to his feet and ran in front of Deidara to shield him. Taking a deep breath, he held his hands up the way Chiyo taught him. He'd been a natural at it, and although this technique was nearly impossible for someone his age, the hate that had been subdued roared to life. He harnessed it. Rage made anything possible.

"Puppet Performance: Skillful Achievement with a Human Body!" He focused his chakra and watched as the light blue strings extended from his fingertips and attached to the woman.

It hurt. The connection between them was so strong that he felt the skin on his hands burn and blister. The pain was secondary to the woman freezing just as she was about to bring the kunai down into his chest.

Her chakra was potent, and her strength ran through his small body at a speed he normally would not be able to process. This was something that took the best puppet masters years to achieve, and Sasori knew he was pushing his young body's limits. The burning of his fingers and hands testified to that.

"W-What?" she managed to breathe. "What are you...? I can't move."

"Wow!" he heard Deidara say behind him, and he felt the other boy's hands gently take his shoulders.

"You're my puppet now," Sasori said. He glared up at her, his eyes wide and his mouth curved downwards in a scowl. If he had to be cruel to live, he would be. Deidara showed him that there were reasons to keep going. "Die." He moved his fingers the way he would on any normal puppet. Slowly the kunoichi raised the kunai she held to her throat.

It was the most difficult thing Sasori had ever done. Unlike with a wooden puppet, the living one resisted his commands with everything she had. Sasori continued, forcing more chakra out through the strings to keep their connection strong. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and stung the gash on the side of his head.

Sasori's resolve only grew stronger when he felt something warm leak into him from where Deidara touched his shoulders. The other boy was lending him his chakra. Sasori's eyes narrowed viciously then as he made direct eye contact with the kunoichi. "I said, _die!_" With a last movement of his fingers, she slit her own throat.

Sasori felt a morbid sense of fascination at the amount of blood that sprayed from her neck. He had never killed anyone in his life, but the sense of power he got from it was frightening.

The chakra strings dissipated and the kunoichi's body fell onto the sand. Sasori looked down at her and let out one shaky exhale. It wasn't the blood that scared him, or the fact he had just taken a life. He had been conditioned early on to accept that killing was a necessary evil, but the sheer amount of damage done to his body from such an advanced technique weakened him. Agony coursed through is fingers and his knees buckled beneath him.

"Woah there!" Deidara's hands were kept firmly on his shoulders. Sasori attempted to swallow, but his throat was dry and the action was painful. "You were great!" Deidara gently helped him balance and Sasori turned to face him. "We make a good team. Are you hurt?"

Sasori silently shook his head and winced when the motion caused his hair to brush over the gash.

"You really don't talk, do you, hmm?" Deidara tilted his head and gently reached out to touch the blood on the side of Sasori's face. Sasori backed away abruptly only to have Deidara once again raise his gloved hands in surrender. "Hey, it's okay! I think I proved I'm not here to hurt you. Relax, ya' pansy!"

Sasori lowered his eyes to his feet and absentmindedly rubbed his wrists to get the blood flowing. He felt the tips of Deidara's fingers brush the dried strands of his hair away from the clotted gash.

"Ew, gross." Deidara stuck out his tongue. "Man, those guys meant serious business, hmm. They beat you up pretty good." Sasori wasn't sure why they weren't moving or why Deidara was even taking the time to look over his injuries. It was an act of compassion that Sasori had been taught no shinobi possessed. Compassion was a weakness, and judging from the headband and his young age, Deidara graduated from Iwagakure's Academy as a fellow prodigy. Yet, here he was, treating Sasori like a person and not as an object needed to prove his worth or to complete a mission.

Sasori blinked sluggishly when he felt Deidara take his hands.

"They look pretty bad." Deidara's blond brows furrowed. As Sasori had expected, the skin was red and blistered from the intensity of the chakra exchanged between he and the kunoichi. The fingers were the worst, and he bit back a pained whine every time he tried to move them. "Here." Deidara took off his gloves and gently worked them over Sasori's hands.

Sasori looked at Deidara's face again, completely knocked off his guard by the simple gesture of kindness. Once the gloves were on, Sasori looked down at them and then back at Deidara's bright, confident face. His gaze then fell to the wound on Deidara's neck from where the kunoichi had attempted to decapitate him. This boy was still capable of the kindness shinobi life disdained. "We don't want sand to get on them," Deidara said.

"Thank you," Sasori said softly, staring down at the black gloves. They were completely unremarkable, a little scuffed up, and stained lighter in some areas from what appeared to be clay residue. He looked into Deidara's eyes again and felt the tears he'd been holding back slide down his cheeks. "Thank you," he said again, his voice strained and weary. "Thank you." He wasn't entirely aware he was even repeating it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome?" Deidara looked slightly alarmed before he gave a strained smile. "Heh, you really are a pansy, hmm." He didn't say it unkindly and it was ended with that soft speech tic that somehow made everything he said more affirmative. Sasori wasn't sure why he found himself liking it so much. All he knew was that it calmed the painful anxiety knotted in his stomach. "Let's get you home, yeah? This will show old man Ōnoki who's the best."

Sasori nodded again and drew the thick collar of his poncho over his nose and mouth so only his teary eyes showed. Part of him was ashamed at how emotional he was. In shock or not, Chiyo would find it distasteful. Deidara offered him a reassuring and rather arrogant grin. "If anyone else tries to kill us, I at least know you'll be there to back me up."

Sasori found he liked the sound of that.

* * *

Love it, hate it? Let me know what you think! I would really appreciate it.


	3. Chapter Two

Wow, last chapter got a lot of great response! Thank you so much and welcome new readers! Please keep them coming, for this story is going to get more intense as we go on.

**Summary:** Chiyo meets Deidara and has a few reservations about him.

Special thank you to **eenayde,** **Malta-chan765,** **Bai-Marionette,** **Tempus Frangit,** and **elise-hale913.** I feel like we're all in a secret club with this story. Haha!

**Disclaimer: **Naruto does not belong to me. No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

Chapter Two

If Chiyo weren't terrified for her grandson, she'd be far angrier than she was currently. Working with the enemy was something she didn't appreciate. It didn't matter if they were allies on paper. The Tsuchikage was known for his backhanded tactics, and there was no doubt in her mind that Iwagakure would betray them in a heartbeat.

She and a group of Iwagakure and Sunagakure shinobi alike combed the desert for their missing. The Tsuchikage Ōnoki himself had joined the hunt, and the longer Chiyo was in his presence, the more she grudgingly related to him. She contributed it to the reason she found herself disliking him personally rather than just on principle.

Ōnoki was the most stubborn old man she had ever met, and that included her brother, Ebizō. The Tsuchikage was an entirely different beast when it came to obnoxiousness, and in a very disturbing way it was like looking in a mirror. When the Tsuchikage's granddaughter and her teammate came bearing the news that their third member was missing after the meeting with the Kazekage, the old man insisted on coming along with his own search party. Chiyo found it all to be an extra headache she didn't need.

The shaky truce between their villages did nothing for trust, and the groups traveled as separate as they could. The arrangement was more like two formations working in proximity to each other rather than one cohesive search party.

"Stupid brat, I should have known he'd pull something like this," she heard Ōnoki grumble. He was fast for an old man, she had to admit, although she wasn't one to talk.

"Grandfather, be careful," his young granddaughter warned. Her name was Kurotsuchi if Chiyo remembered correctly. "I don't want you throwing your hip out."

"Deidara would be so lucky," Ōnoki said. "I'm going to strangle him the moment I see him!"

Chiyo said nothing, but saw the worry apparent in the Tsuchikage's face. The four other Iwagakure jounin and the chubby boy that kept close to Ōnoki's side seemed worried as well, although about Deidara or their leader's health she didn't know.

"What does he look like again?" Chiyo asked.

"Blond," Ōnoki responded. "He's about your grandson's age. Same as my granddaughter and Akatsuchi." His angry dark eyes wavered to the chubby boy that kept close to his side. "You might mistake him for a little girl, but he's a stubborn idiot of a child who's too arrogant for his own good." The words were harsh, but Chiyo knew it came from a place of fear. He obviously cared about this boy, and the same went for Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi, who she assumed were Deidara's genin team.

"Why would he go by himself?" Chiyo asked, trying to keep the suspicion out of her tone. "He doesn't know Sasori."

"Deidara-nii thinks he's the best around," Kurotsuchi said. "He probably wants to prove to grandfather that his 'art' can complete the mission solo."

"Arrogance," Ōnoki said as if in agreement. The yellow ribbon that tied his white hair back in a chonmage rippled in the wind. "That boy's head is so full of hot air it's amazing he hasn't floated away."

Chiyo opened her mouth to comment on Sasori, but promptly closed it when she realized she had no idea what Sasori thought of himself. The most she could get was what Komushi told her, and the information on that front was sparse. Sasori had shut everyone out. "We'll find them," she said instead. "Maybe your missing genin hasn't found them yet."

"He's found them," Ōnoki said. "His tracking abilities surpass any shinobi three times his age." The Tsuchikage's eyes widened. Chiyo didn't need to ask why, because she felt it too. Both Sasori and another's chakra.

The group of strained allies picked up their pace and raced towards a small cluster of stone bluffs. Chiyo felt a sense of relief wash over her when she spotted Sasori standing with another child about his age on the edge of a makeshift campsite.

There was no doubt that this boy was who the Tsuchikage spoke of. Long blond hair proved Ōnoki's description to be true. Deidara could be mistaken for a girl.

After her short observation of Deidara, Chiyo almost froze when she came close enough to see Sasori's face. For almost a year, Sasori had been slipping further and further into himself. She had watched the spark drain from his eyes, and his usual sweet nature morph into something darker and unstable.

Now Sasori watched Deidara, and Chiyo could see the darker tracts of tears on her grandson's cheeks. She couldn't remember Sasori ever crying, at least not like this. These tears were of gratitude and relief. For the first time in a year, Sasori was completely open. Deidara smiled at him and gently held both of his hands as if coaxing him to walk. The children were standing too close together for her liking. Allies or not, it was a shallow agreement and Sasori was exposing his jugular to an enemy ninja.

It terrified her.

"Sasori!" She hadn't meant to sound so angry. Sasori jumped and tore his gaze away from Deidara, promptly pulling his hands back. He was wearing gloves Chiyo knew weren't his, and that only spurred her fear.

She rushed forward, instantly shoving herself between Deidara and Sasori, and pulled her grandson into an embrace. She felt Deidara stumble back with a grunt and Sasori stiffen in her arms. "I'm so glad you're safe."

She pulled away and looked around the clearing, her eyes narrowing at the carnage that laid before her. Two smoking husks could be seen further off in the distance, as if they had been thrown there by an explosion. A dismembered hand was closest to them, the skin burned and the bone jagged from where it stood out from the meaty flesh. She looked to Deidara and she felt second of nausea. A little ways behind him was the body of another man. He too was burned significantly, with two kunai embedded in his back.

What unnerved her most was that these kunai weren't just haphazardly stabbed into the body. They were buried to the hilt in a very precise fashion. One was to the side, right where the man's right kidney would be. The other was in the small of the back, severing his spinal cord. Both places were low enough on such a big man that a child could reach them.

Deidara was no older than Sasori, but she knew he was the culprit. Chiyo was no stranger to children trained in killing grown men. It wasn't farfetched, but looking into those pretty blue eyes set on the boy's young, innocent face was enough to remind her of memories she wanted to erase. In her long years of service to the Kazekage, Chiyo had killed plenty of children like Deidara.

A fourth body was the closest. It was a kunoichi, who seemed to have slit her own throat. The nausea Chiyo repressed came back tenfold at the sight of the blood staining the sand around the woman's head and neck. The kunai that did the job was still in her hand. Chiyo knew better than to write it off as a suicide. Somehow, her grandson had performed the Skillful Achievement of the Human Body technique.

"Sasori." She knelt down in front of him to look into his eyes. "Did you kill this woman?"

As expected Sasori didn't answer her vocally. Instead his blank face said it all. Staring at him, she was faced with the unsettling creature Sasori was becoming. No longer was he vulnerable and emotional as he had been with Deidara. He looked at her as if she were a stranger.

"Deidara, you stupid brat!" Ōnoki's yelling caused Chiyo to stand and turn back around, keeping Sasori behind her. "What were you thinking coming out here alone?" Deidara didn't seem cowed by the Tsuchikage's rage, unlike his teammates who hung behind their leader timidly. She watched incredulously as Deidara lifted a pinky and twisted it around in his ear, his eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"I was thinking Sasori would have been long gone by the time any of you made up your minds, hmm." Deidara crossed his arms and glared up at Ōnoki. The Tsuchikage was not a tall man, but even so he seemed to tower over the boy.

"Running off alone is a sure way to get yourself killed!" Ōnoki snarled. "It doesn't matter how strong you feel you are, you ignored a direct order! You potentially put Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi in danger by abandoning them!"

"Your orders were stupid!" Deidara glared up at the Tsuchikage, and although Chiyo was thankful for Sasori's safety, the insolence this child showed towards his village leader made something in her reel back. Shinobi were loyal. No matter what village, no matter what country, they all lived under that creed. Follow orders. Deidara was a genin. He knew better than to speak to his Kage in such a manner, especially in front of foreign ninja.

"Quiet!" Ōnoki snapped. A strained feeling of embarrassment came from the Iwagakure ninjas. Chiyo figured she should have felt a sense of superiority over the fact the Tsuchikage could not control a mere child, but all it did was make her uncomfortable. They were supposed to be allies now.

"You weren't doing anything!" Deidara said. "You all were haggling with his life!" Deidara's face reddened, and his cheeks slightly puffed out. It might have been cute if the words he spoke weren't so vicious and accusing. Chiyo felt her own indignation grow against the boy, something that added to her discomfort. "Everyone was just using it as an excuse to strike a better deal out of what we'd get if we saved him instead of actually _doing _it! Look at him!" Deidara gestured towards Sasori, and Chiyo instinctively drew her grandson further behind her. "They would have killed him or worse by the time you would have decided on anything, hmm!"

"It wasn't your place to decide!" Ōnoki's hand clenched into a trembling fist. The Tsuchikage always looked angry with his deeply slanted brows and large bulbous nose that made his eyes seem further apart. Now he looked furious, and rightfully so. "You undermined the authority of your Kage in foreign territory, abandoned your teammates, and you are going to be punished severely."

"I didn't abandon them! They were with you and a third of the ninja population of our village! You just hate my art, hmm! You always have!" Deidara's blue eyes were wide and almost frantic, not with fear, Chiyo assessed, but with fury.

"That's enough out of you," Ōnoki said. "Bloodline limit or no, clearly I need to remind you in front of our new allies how Iwa deals with insolent genin!" The Tsuchikage raised his hand.

The previous defiance was immediately gone and Deidara's strong gusto withered into fear. Chiyo's heart clenched involuntarily. She couldn't imagine hitting Sasori outside of training. Still, she kept her mouth shut. It wasn't her business and it was within the Tsuchikage's right to punish his shinobi as he saw fit.

Suddenly, she felt something small brush against her side and a blur of red darted out between Deidara and the Tsuchikage. "Sasori!" she cried, reaching out her hand to attempt to grab her grandson, but he was too swift. He snatched the kunai out of the dead kunoichi's hand and skidded to a stop between Ōnoki and Deidara.

A collective hush hung over the campsite. The only sounds came from the wind and the crackling of the dying fire. Onoki's rage had subsided into pure shock, his usually sharply slanted brows arching up.

Sasori stood in front of Deidara, empty brown eyes narrowed, and kunai held at the ready. Chiyo's mind immediately panicked. Sasori had just run out in front of a Kage. Not only that, he ran out in front of the Tsuchikage, a man who was well known for being able to obliterate even the most powerful shinobi with his Dust Release ninjustu. Sasori didn't stand a chance.

Yet, the more she looked at Sasori's stance, Chiyo realized he wasn't using aggressive body language. His knees were bent slightly, while he held his feet together, and he held the flat of the kunai towards Ōnoki's face. In fact, everything about Sasori was submissive, as if he were telling Ōnoki to hold out on his punishment.

"Sasori." She shook her head and stepped forward, ready to apologize and do whatever it took to appease the Tsuchikage. At least she was until Sasori promptly spun on his heel and slammed the rounded end on the kunai into Deidara's chest.

The Iwa genin let out a breathless cry and fell flat on his back, coughing and gasping. Every single Iwa shinobi tensed and Chiyo heard a few feet shuffle as they shifted into battle stance. She and her fellow sand shinobi did as well. It had been expected that they would turn on each other so easily, and she immediately began to plot her strategy, taking out the scrolls to summon her best puppets.

"Hold on." Ōnoki's command forced her to look to where the Tsuchikage held his hand up. Sasori now knelt next to Deidara, partially hiding the other from view as he held him close. The kunai Sasori had grabbed lay abandoned.

"I hurt him so you won't have to," Sasori said. Chiyo lowered her scrolls, completely taken off guard, but quick to get it back. She had to act quickly while Ōnoki still had that stunned look on his face.

"Lord Tsuchikage, I apologize on behalf of Suna," she said, taking a few steps closer to Sasori and Deidara. Damage control was all she could do right now. Judging by the blood, Sasori had been hit on the head, and was no doubt dehydrated from being out in the open desert all day. Those Hidden Leaf barbarians probably withheld any water they had for themselves. "My grandson is obviously concussed and can't be held accountable for his actions."

"I'll take double the punishment."

Chiyo felt as if she had been punched straight in the chest and she turned her gaze to Sasori. Her grandson looked at the Tsuchikage with such a straight, blank expression that for a moment, she wasn't sure if she was staring at a child. The way Sasori held Deidara close to him didn't warrant any sense of warmth. It was an action that she had seen Sasori take with his puppet projects when he didn't want her to look at the unfinished product. It was a possessive hold, but if Deidara were against it, she got nothing from him. The boy merely rubbed his chest, his eyes closed tightly as his breathing started to slow. "He didn't mean that," she heard herself say.

"I do mean it," Sasori said. His voice chilled her. It was soft and sweet, but the tone was all wrong. Her grandson gently rose to his feet, taking Deidara's bandaged hands and pulling him up as well. "If what I did was disrespectful to your authority, then you have a right to punish me. I hurt him enough though to where any more force would be excessive, and I owe Deidara my life, so I will take his punishment as well." Those eerie brown eyes focused only on the Tsuchikage. They made Chiyo feel as if she were strangely insignificant, but she shook the feeling off.

"What? Don't do that!" Deidara spoke up, his voice hoarse. "Ōnoki-sama, I'm sorry. This is my fault, okay?"

"He doesn't know what he's saying," Chiyo said, stepping in front of the two boys. "It's been an exhausting day, and your genin saved him. He's just a child and still in the Academy. He doesn't understand. Again, I apologize on his behalf."

"Your grandson seems to understand more than you think he does, Lady Chiyo," Ōnoki said. The Tsuchikage's expression became carefully guarded. For anyone else, it might have been unreadable, but Chiyo had dealt with her fair share of secretive authority figures enough to see the gears turning in Ōnoki's head. "Deidara, what he did to you was a pinprick compared to what I had in store."

His eyes never left Sasori, and a tense quiet descended upon the campsite, until Ōnoki seemed to come to a conclusion. His narrowed eyes rounded out again and a smile pulled at the edge of his lips. It didn't make Chiyo feel any better. The smile was too easy, and there was a sense of calculation about it. "Although you need more work in the negotiation department, I can tell you're a bright boy, Sasori-san." He looked around the campsite at the bodies. "Not to mention you pack quite the punch with the right support."

Sasori said nothing, and kept his gaze slightly averted from the Tsuchikage. Chiyo didn't like the way he kept so close to the Iwagakure genin. It was too personal, and if she was picking up on that, no doubt Ōnoki was too. A sand shinobi having loyalty to a stone shinobi was unheard of for a reason. She was going to have to make it clear to Sasori that Deidara was not his friend, and that becoming attached to him was unacceptable.

"Everyone, ease up," Ōnoki said, that same calculating smile still on his face. Chiyo had to marvel that such a small man could carry himself with such self-assured authority. "Lady Chiyo is right. We're all tired, and I think it's best if we return to the village. There's no need for punishment tonight. Sasori-san is safe, and I believe Deidara has learned his lesson when even the rescued party feels he deserves a good hit for his trouble."

Deidara grumbled something under his breath. Akatsutchi and Kurotsuchi hurried over to the old man, their eyes wide as they cast anxious looks over their shoulders towards Deidara. Their nervous body language told they wanted to get closer to their teammate, but didn't want to approach Sasori.

Chiyo couldn't blame them, but that didn't mean she didn't try. Half of Sasori's face was coated in blood, and that horrid, miserable expression made him seem more like a ghost than a living person. Still, they could at least get their teammate away from him if they were so concerned. Chiyo was about to do the same as the group started moving away, but forced herself to hold off when Deidara wrapped a friendly arm around Sasori's shoulders.

That wasn't what stopped her. What did was Sasori's face. The entire time he had spoken to Ōnoki, Chiyo had sensed something broken within her grandson. Sasori was so far in his own mind that his voice had made her feel like she was listening to the last echo of the child she knew. Then there was that look he gave, with hooded eyes and a down curved mouth that radiated a deep rooted misery.

Yet at Deidara's touch, a soft smile eclipsed all of that.

"You really saved me back there, hmm," she heard Deidara murmur, one bandaged hand cupped over his mouth as he leaned in close to Sasori's ear. "Pretty smart to get your grandma involved. If the old man punished you, I don't think she and the Kazekage would be too pleased." Deidara let out a pained sound and lowered the hand closest to his mouth to rub his chest. Sasori's smile faded and Chiyo felt her hands clench against the scrolls she still held.

"I'm sorry," Sasori said. "Did I hurt you badly?"

"Please, compared to what Ōnoki the crypt keeper would have done to me that was a slap on the wrist, hmm." Deidara had the kind of broad, confident grin that was infectious if it weren't known beforehand that he was a trained killer. The lack of remorse or any apparent introspection could have been contributed to him being a child, but Chiyo doubted it. Deidara had _enjoyed_ it, and she decided that was the reason he unsettled her so.

"Why are your hands bandaged?" Sasori looked down at the gloves on his own hands and then towards Deidara's carefully wrapped palms. "Those with the bandages are a bit much." She had been right to assume the gloves were Deidara's, and she agreed with Sasori. The Iwa genin didn't seem vexed outwardly, but Chiyo didn't miss the tightening around his eyes.

"I've got sweaty palms, hmm," he said, flexing his fingers and leaning lazily against Sasori. "Can't be too careful." Sasori's smile returned. Chiyo fought the urge to walk back and drag Sasori out of the grip of the stone genin. "You can keep the gloves too, if you want," Deidara said. "I have more, plus maybe they'll help you with that technique you did."

"Thank you," Sasori said.

"Don't thank me, thank my art, hmm!" the blond boy's chest swelled with pride.

"Art?" Sasori blinked.

"Yeah, art!" Deidara said. "The fleeting moment of beauty before it's gone! An explosion! I used to make all kinds of sculptures, but it felt like something was missing. Then it hit me one day. Fleeting moments are so beautiful because no one can grasp them. You can't hold onto something that's gone as soon as it's there, hmm."

To Chiyo's chagrin she heard Sasori laugh. She couldn't remember the last time Sasori laughed. She glanced over at them again to see her grandson duck out from under Deidara's arm and nudge him. _Playfully._

"That's silly," he said before picking up his pace. Chiyo hoped he was coming over to her, but Deidara followed closely behind and she let her path drift away a bit.

"Silly?" Deidara cried indignantly.

"I haven't thought much about art, but I don't think that's what it is. I'll let you know when I gather more information."

Chiyo wished she could feel a sense of pride that Sasori had managed to attach his chakra strings to a living human, but Deidara's proximity made her far too hyper aware of Sasori's soft smiles and responsiveness. Not even Komushi in all his persistence had been able to elicit such a state from her grandson. A year had passed since she had seen Sasori like this. He wasn't waiting, longing, or miserable. For once he appeared to be in the moment. Half of Chiyo wanted to weep with relief that her beloved grandson was still there, but the other was angry that it had anything to do with someone outside of Suna.

"Your grandson and Deidara seem to enjoy each other's company." Ōnoki had somehow slowed his pace enough to stand by her side. Chiyo had been so focused on listening in on Sasori and Deidara's conversation she hadn't seen or heard him approach. The lack of competence on her part furthered her irritation, but she kept her outward composure as she looked down at the Tsuchikage.

"My grandson is grateful to him," she responded evenly.

"Deidara is high strung and far too eager to show off his talent, but I have to admit that it turned out for the better." The Tsuchikage's outward appearance seemed straight-laced and professional, but Chiyo knew better. The brief glint in his eyes showed that he was satisfied, and it didn't take decades of shinobi training to know why.

_It turned out better for you, traitorous worm, _Chiyo thought. The Third Kazekage was the strongest leader they ever had, but strength wasn't always enough to defeat backhanded tactics. For all she knew, Iwagakure had staged this whole thing to further worm their way into Suna's good graces.

"I too am grateful for Sasori's safety," she said. During the council meeting, she had kept her stoic resolve, but inside she had been panicking. That was then, however. Now, she had to see past Ōnoki's walls to his end game. This alliance had been a bad idea, no matter how desperate both villages were to get one-up over Konoha. Tsunade was the Hidden Leaf's trump card, and they were using her to the greatest effect.

Still, threatening though an alliance between Suna and Iwa sounded on paper, in practice it was just a bomb waiting to go off. Chiyo was pretty sure Konoha knew it too, and as soon as the news reached them, they would simply sit back and wait for said bomb to explode.

"I heard about what happened to Sasori-san's parents," Ōnoki said. "Deidara is much the same." He turned his gaze to the two boys. Sasori seemed a little more lethargic in his movements now that the adrenaline had started to fade. Deidara kept close to him and Chiyo immediately tried to replace him with Komushi in her mind. It did no good. Sasori never looked at Komushi the way he did Deidara. "Perhaps the two can relate on that level, and why Deidara felt the need to save him on his own."

_You liar. Your genin just wanted the taste of blood, and if you're being honest, not even you could hold his leash tight enough. _

"War orphans are one ryō a dozen these days," Chiyo said. "It's tragic if you ask me."

The Tsuchikage hummed in agreement. "I've been taking care of Deidara for a few years now. He's one of Iwagakure's most promising genin. It would mean a lot if you were the one to heal that nasty wound on his neck, Lady Chiyo." That calculating smile remained, disguised under a layer of faked respect. Bastard.

"Very well," Chiyo said. It would give her a chance to study Deidara up close, and possibly question him in a way that would garner enough information for her to foresee any trickery on Ōnoki's part.

"Excellent. I hope Sasori-san's and Deidara's blooming friendship is a sign of the coming prosperity between our villages." With that, Ōnoki quickened his pace so that he was at the front of the group. His granddaughter and Akatsuchi were at his side in an instant, and Chiyo figured it was a trained behavior.

Deidara didn't join them.

She looked over her shoulder again to see he was still hassling Sasori over the meaning of art. She'd have to tread carefully, but whatever was happening between the stone genin and her grandson needed to be monitored if not stopped.

Xxx

"You're lucky." The tips of Chiyo's fingers glowed green with healing chakra as she carefully knitted the skin and protective cartilage of Deidara's neck back together. "One more tug and she would have sank that wire through your sternohyoid, omohyoid and thyrohoid muscles. One more after that, it would have been your carotid artery."

"Uh, my what?" Deidara's blue eyes blinked in confusion, his legs swinging off the edge of the hospital cot in a way that was almost distracting. Thankfully Sasori was the one to clarify. Chiyo doubted she had the patience.

"The muscles in your neck." Sasori tilted his chin back and pointed to his own neck. "Your carotid artery runs through here." He ran a finger from the bend in his jawbone and down. "If she didn't manage to decapitate you, you would have bled to death."

"Yes, although lucky for you, she only managed to sink it in enough to where all things meant to be protected were."

"No wonder it hurt so much, hmm," Deidara said.

"Don't talk. I'm not done." Chiyo continued her work, keeping Sasori in the corner of her eye. She had treated him first, and had been insistent that she be the one to do so. Deidara's wounds were superficial for the most part, and thankfully so were Sasori's despite a mild concussion. "You finish that juice box, Sasori," she ordered. "You've been out in the desert all day."

"Yes, Chiyo-baasama." Sasori obediently took another sip from the straw. Already he'd done the Skillful Achievement of the Human Body technique. Unbelievable. Not only that, he'd done it on a perfectly healthy, unwilling adversary. Chiyo picked up a wet cloth covered with soothing herbs and began to wipe the blood off of Deidara's skin.

"This should help ease the residual pain," Chiyo said.

"That does feel better, hmm." Deidara tilted his head to and fro once she finished and gave her a friendly smile. Chiyo didn't return it, not that Deidara seemed to notice, for he had already slipped off the bed to sit next to Sasori on one of the chairs by the wall of the small private room. Chiyo watched with silent distaste as the boy leaned across Sasori's lap to steal a sip of his juice.

"Hey!" Sasori said, shoving Deidara's face away. "Rude."

"Come on, I rescued you!"

"Don't be a baby," Sasori said. "Ask Chiyo-baasama for one."

Deidara let out a huff but turned his blue eyes to her. To a civilian they were completely innocent, but Chiyo had been a shinobi longer than most lived. Those eyes disturbed her. Beneath the ignorant façade, they held a constant frantic edge — a destructive energy that was completely at odds with Sasori's temperance. "Here," she said. She handed him another box from the small tray one of the stationary medics had brought in earlier.

"Thank you!" Deidara chirped, closing his eyes happily. Chiyo allowed herself to take him in for a moment before she turned to Sasori. Although he'd been subtle about it, Chiyo had seen the way Sasori kept close to Deidara's side. It was like watching a dog guard its food. This whole thing was wrong, and both the Iwagakure and Suna ninjas alike seemed to agree judging on the looks they gave.

Sasori was not an approachable child by any means, and being Chiyo's grandson, everyone knew of him. Although not outwardly hostile, Sasori was decidedly antisocial. As much as the Academy teachers raved about his abilities, his inability to bond with his fellow students was worrisome. His newfound attachment to Deidara only put the final nail in the coffin.

Now would be her only chance. First step, get Sasori out of the room.

"Sasori, would you mind going to the front desk and getting some salve?" she asked.

At her request, Sasori's expression promptly shifted into something unreadable. For a moment her mind tricked her into thinking she was looking at a corpse rather than a living child.

"Why?" he asked. His tone suggested that he wasn't going to bend at the 'because I said so' card. Those days had passed, and as much as Chiyo hated to let him get away with not following a direct order, getting what she wanted to know out of Deidara was more important. She'd only have a brief window, after all.

"I want you to give it to Komushi's mother," she answered. "She's been hysterical downstairs for hours."

Sasori didn't respond. His face gave no indication of what he was feeling or thinking.

"Komushi's arm will most likely have to be amputated."

Her grandson didn't even twitch. That same repressed anger she felt the morning he pestered her to go to the post office bubbled to the surface and she all but yelled at him.

"Dammit Sasori, it's the least you could do after the pain that child endured for you when you don't even speak to him! At least act like you care!"

She heard Deidara gasp, and faint lines appeared beneath Sasori's eyes as they pinched.

"If you don't like the way I'm feeling," Sasori began softly, "why don't you go buy me some candy?"

The breath froze in her lungs. "What did you just say?"

"Whenever I feel something, you always look sad. So I always ask you to buy me candy so you can pretend to make me feel better," Sasori said.

Chiyo's eyes widened a fraction. There was no denying the truth in those words. Not only that, it just showed Sasori was more than capable of manipulating her.

"Go get the salve," Chiyo said. "Now."

Sasori stared up at her for a few drawn out seconds more, eyes empty as his voice had been. Then he turned and left the room, and Chiyo felt a wave of relief wash over her.

"You shouldn't talk to him like that, hmm," Deidara said. Chiyo turned on him and glared when she saw him stare at the door Sasori had vanished through. His blue eyes met her dark ones. "He's really sad and lonely. You'll just make it worse."

"He's my grandson and it's my right," Chiyo said.

"I wouldn't know, hmm." Deidara's blond brows drew together, and he absentmindedly picked at the bandages around his palms. His legs started their distracting swinging once more.

"I guess you wouldn't," Chiyo said. "The Tsuchikage told me you're an orphan."

"Yeah, I am," Deidara said. "I live with Ōnoki-sama, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi. They're my family, hmm."

"He mentioned you had a bloodline limit." Chiyo moved to start putting her supplies away.

"Explosion release," Deidara said, but didn't elaborate further. He was arrogant, but that didn't mean he was dumb. The less another village knew about his abilities, the safer he was. Chiyo had to give him props for that. "I really like Sasori, hmm."

"I see." Chiyo almost faltered as she wrung out the cloth, but kept her hands steady.

"He's nice."

"Speaking of my grandson," Chiyo said. "Why did you decide to disobey your Kage to save him on your own? Surely you knew there would be consequences." She prepared herself to listen beneath the lines Deidara gave her.

"Because I wanted to." Deidara's expression was still friendly, but that frantic edge to his eyes strengthened, and his smile twitched around the edges. "I'm never allowed to do anything I want, and I wanted to use my art."

"Is your art murder?" Chiyo let her voice take an edge to it.

A pregnant pause filled the room and Deidara's smile faded. Chiyo watched him carefully, noticing that his legs had stopped swinging off the edge of the chair. "Sometimes people don't understand my art, and I have to give them a…live demonstration, hmm."

Chiyo didn't need to imagine what that meant. She'd seen the results only a few hours ago. "Sasori killed that kunoichi, didn't he?" she asked.

"Yes," Deidara said. Another long pause hung between them as Chiyo gathered her next words. Yet, the child beat her to it. "It was the most artistic thing I've ever seen." This time her hands did freeze as she prepared to wash them in the small sink by the bed.

"You're obsessive," Chiyo said.

"I'm an artist," Deidara said.

"There's no art in killing people."

"Isn't there? Everyone tends to work really hard on mastering different ways to do it, hmm. A lot of them I find quite beautiful, like Sasori's way." Deidara's smile returned, only this time it wasn't friendly at all. Curved like the blade of a sickle, it radiated the child's destructive energy. "Which I guess is technically your way, hmm."

Chiyo met his smile with a mask of calm. Deidara was obviously used to intimidating others by using his age and intellect, but he was still six years old, and Chiyo was not one to be bullied.

"You're right. It is," she said, returning to washing her hands. "Sasori learns fast. I'm proud." She turned off the sink's water and faced Deidara fully. The sickle-grin had morphed into a rather ugly scowl.

"He deserves better. You would have let him die or worse if I hadn't have acted, hmm." The boy's natural charisma had faded to reveal the temperamental beast beneath.

_There you are. _Chiyo let a soft smile crack the mask of her calm. "It's war. Sometimes you don't have a choice in who lives or dies." She let her smile slip away and met Deidara's narrowed blue eyes with her own knowing gaze. "I'm sure a lot of people would still be alive if you did."

Deidara shot her a look so vicious she was prepared to act if he lunged at her. Instead, the child schooled his features back into an unreadable smile.

She knew why a few seconds later when Kurotsuchi burst through the door with Akatsuchi at her heels. For a girl so small, she had quite the presence. Her short dark hair looked windblown as if she had run all the way here. Akatsuchi seemed far more at ease and cheerful now that he was no longer anxious.

"Deidara-nii, there you are." Kurotsuchi sat down in the chair next to Deidara and frowned slightly. "You shouldn't run off like that. You could give gramps a heart attack."

"Aw, lay off, Kurotsuchi." Akatsuchi leaned against the wall on Deidara's opposite side. "He saved the hostage."

"You were worried too," Kurotsuchi said, shooting Akatsuchi a glare.

"I'm touched, guys. Really, hmm," Deidara said, his bright smile back in place. He turned it on her and Chiyo felt her own fake smile return. "Thank you again, Lady Chiyo. My neck feels good as new, hmm!"

"You're welcome." Her window to speak with Deidara had closed. He was as dangerous as she had first assumed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see where my grandson wandered off to."

"Thank you again," she heard Kurotsuchi say as she exited the room. Chiyo closed the door behind her and paused abruptly when she saw Sasori standing there. His eyes were narrowed and he held a small container in his hands.

"She wouldn't take it," he said. "She wants to see you first." The way he watched her made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.

"Were you out here the entire time?" she asked.

"No," Sasori said. "I did what you said." He continued to watch her in that unsettling way. That was what had her on edge. Beneath that blank veneer, was that unmistakable anger of a person betrayed. "Can we go home now, Chiyo-baasama?" His tone was carefully controlled, but she knew him and loved him well enough to hear the anger lurking beneath. "I want to finish one of my projects." It all suddenly made sense. Sasori's sudden downshift in behavior, and his sudden lashing out with mentioning all the times she bought him candy. Chiyo felt as if the entire world stopped spinning.

He knew.

* * *

Oh my, so here we go! Thank you so much to those who reviewed. I am really enjoying this story and hearing your thoughts really inspires me to keep going. Sasori and Deidara's relationship starts to develop in the coming chapters, and Sasori's crumbling relationship with Chiyo becomes moreso. Stay tuned, and thank you also to the people who added this little story to their favorites and alerts.


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